Mohamed Ameen Dabhelia – 2017/11/29

A Chief Forensic Investigator has told Radio Islam that South Africans have become susceptible to scams because they rely too much on social media.

Fraud Watch SA’s Chad Thomas says the internet has made consumers complacent and lazy when it comes to making online purchases.

“Rather than in the old days, if we wanted to buy or rent a property, we would go in and meet the real estate agents, we wanted to book a holiday; we would go in and meet with a reputable travel agent.”

Thomas says fraudsters take advantage of the fact that we are now in the digital age, making the ‘time-share fraud’ a booming business.

Speaking to Radio Islam on Wednesday, a victim of the time-share scamming process, Tim Flack says he never thought he would ever fall for something like this.

“I was looking for a property to rent from next year, found a property that seemed reasonably priced, we ended up contacting the lady. We paid a double deposit, I then went on to the internet again and found the same property for rent at three to four thousand Rands more.”

Flack says he then contacted the estate agents for clarity.

“I asked them how can this be possible that its still up for rent, we’ve paid a deposit on this house, we’ve signed a rental agreement. The lady said to me I’m sorry we have a sole mandate on this property… You’ve been scammed.”

Flack and his partner immediately made contact with their banks fraud hotline in order for them to stop the transfer from going through eventually getting their money back.

He says the women has scammed about 20 other people using their ID books to commit fraud.

Flack has urged consumers to verify the seller’s details before making purchases online.

Some tips to avoid being scammed on Time-Share deals, sent in by a listener:

1.Check how long the user has been active. For example, if you check today and it says active since NOV 2017 (suspect).

2.When Timeshare Company’s advertise, ask them for their business profiles. This will indicate how long they have been in business, physical addresses, landline numbers, references, etc.

3.Ask for unit numbers and under whose name the bookings are currently on, phone the resort and verify.

4.Always request a guest certificate and also verify it with the resort.

5.Do not fall for “I’m getting a lot of calls for it, I need a holding deposit”.

6.Even when phoning the advertiser and the ‘sound’ legit, don’t take it for granted because with conning comes skill.

(Edited By Faizel Patel)